All the Single Ladies
by lilkawa
Summary: Martha and Gwen meet up for drinks.
1. Chapter 1

_Doctor Who_ and _Merlin_ don't belong to me

All the Single Ladies

Martha hurried into the crowded pub and spotted Gwen already sitting at a table.

"I'm sorry, I'm late," Martha told her friend, after they had hugged, "there was an emergency and I had to stay and help." "Its fine," Gwen replied, "you're here now."

"It seems like ages since we last met," Martha told her friend. Gwen nodded and said, "It's been ages. You went back in time and met Shakespeare, went to the moon and did who knows what else since we met last week."

Martha smiled at her friend, "those were good times. But all good things come to an end, at least that's what they say."

"I was actually surprised to receive the call from you, not that you haven't been calling me from all your exotic locations, but I thought you'd be calling to tell me about some wonderful adventure you were having with the Doctor, and not saying that we hook up."

"Yes, about that," Martha said, "he brought me back yesterday."

"Brought you back?" Gwen asked her.

"Apparently we were supposed to have gone on only one trip, so he dropped me off at my flat."

"Wait, he actually dropped you off at your flat?" Gwen asked her friend.

"Yep, he landed the TARDIS in my tiny sitting room, which was exactly how I had left it, and said adios."

Gwen took her friend's hand and told her, "There are plenty of guys out there who would be and are interested in you."

Martha nodded and said, "So now I'm back to being Martha Jones, medical student. But enough about me how are you?"

"Fine," Gwen replied looking close to tears, "I'm really fine."

"Ok-ay."

"You remember Arthur Pendragon, right?" Gwen asked Martha.

'Of course, who could forget him?" Martha replied.

"Anyway, there I was sitting in my tiny office, minding my own business when he walks in and kisses me."

"Hang on. What? He just walked in and kissed you?"

"We have been working very closely on a case for about a week, so you could say that we've grown closer and are sort of friends now." Gwen explained.

"Who cares if you're friends? He kissed you!" Martha was smiling widely.

"Yes, he did." Gwen was smiling too, at the memory of the kiss.

"So what happened next? Are you guys an item now?"

Gwen shook her hand.

"As I was leaving the office, Arthur came up to me and said we needed to talk. I followed him to his office, where he told me that our kiss, as enjoyable as it was, couldn't lead to anything more."

"Why?" Martha interrupted.

"Apparently, there is some conflict of interest issue; so for the good of the company we should forget that anything had ever happened." Gwen shook her head and smiled sadly. "I wanted to hit him, punch him in the face. It's their company, they make the rules and they bend them when it suits them. I smiled at him and said that I understood and walked out. The nerve of the man, he was the one who kissed me, not the other way round."

"Men." Martha and Gwen said together.

"I guess it's my turn to point out that there are other men in the world, that the world will continue turning," Martha said.

They looked at each other and laughed. Martha picked up her glass and said, "I propose a toast."

Gwen up picked her glass and asked, "To what are we drinking?"

"To meeting new and interesting people; who are interested in us."

"I'll drink to that," Gwen said, taking a sip.

000

The Doctor was in the TARDIS staring at the controls wondering where to go next. He was lonely and he missed having someone with him in the TARDIS, 'maybe I shouldn't have chased Martha away,' he thought to himself. 'It was the right thing to do, let the girl go back to her nice, orderly life.'

He noticed that some of the levers were loose and reached into his pocket to get the screwdriver. It wasn't there. He began to search the TARDIS while trying to recall the last time he had used it. He didn't really need the screw driver to fix the problem but he wanted it back.

Martha. Of course, he had given it to her to do something. She probably still had it. She obviously still had it.

As he set the course for Martha's flat, the Doctor consoled himself, 'it's not as if I miss her, nothing like that. I just want my sonic screw driver back. Really, it's not about her.'

**What do you think?**


	2. Chapter 2

Martha and Gwen were joined by Tish and they moved the party to Martha's flat.

They were at the ice cream stage of their party when they heard a whirring sound and a blue telephone box landed in the middle of Martha's sitting room taking up almost all the space in the room.

"Is that what we think it is?" Gwen asked Martha. Martha nodded, smiling softly.

"I guess he couldn't stay away," Tish said laughing.

They waited for the Doctor to appear.

000

The Doctor was in the TARDIS wondering what he was going to say to Martha now that he was in her flat. 'Get on with it,' he said to himself, 'Martha's just a girl. Nothing more and you only came back for your screwdriver nothing more.'

000

The girls had put the ice cream tubs down and were standing near the TARDIS door waiting for the Doctor to appear. Gwen and Tish were especially anxious having heard so much about him from Martha.

The Doctor opened the door and stepped out. Three pairs of eyes were staring at him, two with interest and puzzlement – like he was an oddity, which he had to admit he was - and one with such hope and trust.

He swallowed and smiled at them.

"Hi Martha," he grabbed her, like she was a lifeline and then turned and smiled at the other two girls. "Let me guess, you must be Tish," he pointed at her, "and Gwen," pointing at her.

When they looked at him inquiringly he added, "Martha told me a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you," Gwen told him holding out her hand, "Martha has told us a bit about you too."

The Doctor looked at Martha trying to imagine what she had told her friends about him. He looked around the room and saw the wine bottles, the empty tray of milk chocolates and the tubs of half eaten ice cream.

"It seems I interrupted a party," he told them.

"Yes," Tish agreed, "we're having an all girls' party."

'Maybe I'd better leave you to it then," the Doctor said. He touched the TARDIS door and made as if to enter it.

"Doctor?" Martha asked him, "Why did you come?"

"Oh, yes, quite. I thought I left my screwdriver with you," the Doctor replied.

"Don't you want it back, then?" Martha asked him.

The Doctor looked at her as if he didn't understand the question and then he shook himself and smiled a mischievous smile. "What do you say, girls, how you like to join me to the biggest party of the year?"

Martha, Tish and Gwen followed him into the TARDIS.

000

The call went straight to voicemail.

"_Hi, you've reached Gwen's phone. Leave me a message_."

Arthur tried again and after ten unanswered calls he decided to leave a message.

"_Hi, Guinevere, it's Arthur. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I acted like a total idiot over the kiss. I would like to apologise in person. Can we meet? Call me."_

000

Tish and Gwen were still choosing costumes for the fancy dress party while Martha and the Doctor sat on the chair waiting for them to come out.

"So, you came back for the screwdriver and not for me?" Martha asked him.

"Sonic screwdrivers are not that easy to come by," the Doctor began and then added, "besides, a guy needs an excuse to barge into a girl's flat. Doesn't he?"

000


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, I am such a chicken but seriously I couldn't find the words to describe the party so I just skipped it. Sorry

Thanks for reading and reviewing

000

Tish and Gwen run into the TARDIS leaving Martha and the Doctor walking slowly behind them. The party had been a blast; none of them could remember ever having had such fun in their lives.

"That party was too mad," Gwen told Tish, "remember the Matchstick men." They burst out and laughed, "those men were nothing," Tish replied, "what about the Lego benders and oh, the Jello girls." They sat on the chair, fully exhausted.

"I can now totally relate to Eliza Doolittle's _I could have danced all night_," Martha told the Doctor. "I could tell," the Doctor told her, "you were in your element." 'The Acrobat and the Fence couldn't keep their eyes off you,' he added to himself silently, 'and I can see why."

Martha joined the others on the chair.

"So what's next?" Tish asked. "Where are we going next?"

"Let's see," the Doctor said, "there's the beach in Tar, the Summer festival in Lot, Kite flying in Dist, and oh, yes the Opera." He sounded so excited.

"I don't about the rest of you," Martha said, "but I'm for the beach."

"The beach it is," the Doctor said immediately making Gwen and Tish laugh. "I bet if Martha had chosen the Opera we'd be heading there instead." The Doctor looked at them like he had idea what they were talking about while Martha smiled widely.

000

Gwen pulled out her phone and wasn't surprised to find that there was no service. She put it back in her bag thanking God that they were out of range so she wouldn't see that she hadn't received any calls from Arthur. He probably hadn't thought of her at all, she was really pathetic.

Martha saw the look on her friend's face and turned to the Doctor, "can't you do something about her phone?" He smiled at Martha and said, "Of course I can, I am the Doctor after all, I have the cure for all ills."

He took all the girls' phones and pulled out his screwdriver. He pointed it at each of them in turn and said, "now you can receive and make calls to anywhere in the world, as long as you know the area code."

Tish immediately called her friend Peter and told him all about the party, totally ignoring the fact that she had got him up from a deep sleep. Martha thought of calling their mother but decided against it, Francine would only get worried. Gwen looked at her phone and saw that she had ten missed calls, all from Arthur and two voicemails. She would listen to them later.

000

"I really must go back home," Gwen told them, "this was really fun but I really want to see Arthur again, you know to see where we're going."

"Me too," Tish said, "I mean not about Arthur but I kind of miss home and Peter. Don't get me wrong, this was really fun."

They had just left Tar and were in the TARDIS. The Doctor nodded travelling in space and time wasn't for everyone. As he set the course for London, he wondered if this really goodbye, if he was never to spend any more time with Martha.

000

Gwen and Tish practically run out of the TARDIS and discovered that it was as if they had never left. Martha's flat still had the half eaten ice-cream, chocolate trays and the wine bottles and glasses.

"It's like we never left," Tish said, "yet we've away for days."

"You seemed like you hadn't wanted to miss any time on earth, so I brought back exactly two and a half hours after we left."

Gwen looked at her phone to see if Arthur had called yet and found that she still had her missed calls and voicemails. She'd thought of returning his calls and decided that they had to talk in person.

She was about to call him when her phone rang. She picked it up on the first ring.

"Hi Arthur." She said. She listened for a bit and then said, "Okay, tomorrow at nine, I'll see you then." She hugged Martha, Tish and the Doctor and left. Tish left a few minutes later.

"So," Martha said turning to the Doctor.

"So," he said.

Martha began to clear up the room and the Doctor helped her after a while. "You know I don't believe I have ever cleared up in my life," the Doctor said.

"Finally, something you've never done before," Martha told him, laughing.

They had finished putting the room back to rights and the Doctor walked to the TARDIS. He put his hand on the door and thought about how to ask Martha to go with him. 'What do you say, another trip? Care to join me?' Everything he was thinking of just sounded so wrong and she did have a life, a real life here on earth with people who cared about her.

"So this is really goodbye," Martha told him. She kissed him on the cheek and stood back ready to watch him disappear from her life again. She couldn't believe that just said goodbye to him a few days ago.

The Doctor looked at her and smiled slowly, he pulled her for a hug and as they let go he was surprised to hear himself say, "Martha, come with me. Please."

Martha looked at him, "are you sure?"

"As sure as I have ever been in my life; come with me, let us see the universe together."

Hand in hand they entered the TARDIS.

000


	4. Chapter 4

Guinevere listened to Arthur's voicemails. He really wanted to meet her and talk to her. She thought about ignoring them but who was she kidding, she was crazy about Arthur and wanted to see him if only to help her get over him.

She was still looking at her phone when it rang.

It was Arthur, she answered, "Hi."

"Oh, hello," he replied as though, he hadn't thought she'd answer his call.

"I'm sorry for calling so late, but I was wondering if you could maybe meet me at Ben's Café tomorrow at ten."

"Okay," she agreed and hung up.

Arthur was already seated at a table at Ben's when she arrived at five minutes to the hour.

"Hi," he said, standing up to greet her, "I'm glad you could make it."

She nodded and sat down.

"I ordered us a pot of tea, and cakes. I hope that's alright." She nodded.

They sat in silence for a while and then she turned to him and said, "You wanted to talk."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry about the way I behaved about the kiss," he said, "I was a total idiot."

"So you said."

Arthur looked at her; it seemed she wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"It's okay."

Arthur decided that however coldly she was acting he would say exactly what he had come to say.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" he asked her.

"How could I forget?" she grimaced, "You almost knocked me over, you were hurrying for a meeting."

"Actually I wasn't," he said.

"You weren't what?"

"Hurrying for a meeting."

"So you almost knocked me over for no reason?" she asked him.

"I was standing at the reception when you walked in," he smiled, that gorgeous smile, "you were wearing a suit, a pale pink skirt suit, and you were smiling about something. You didn't look like you would notice anyone or anything so I decided to make you notice me by bumping into you."

Gwen was looking at him in shock. She remembered that day vividly, it had been her first day of work. As she entered the building, Martha had sent her a funny text, she'd smiled. The next thing she knew she had bumped into a man. A gorgeous angry man, who wasn't too pleased, that she wasn't watching where she was going.

Arthur continued. "You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, I decided there and then to get your attention. But you ignored me and were all business when we met."

"You're the boss." Gwen told him.

"I imagined that was the reason you were keeping away from me," he grinned, "I got so frustrated until an opportunity presented itself, this week. We _had_ to work together."

"You mean you engineered all that?" she asked him.

"You wouldn't speak to me except about work, called me sir, although I had asked you numerous times to call me Arthur. Finally, we were spending time together, working late, and talking about things other than work. This week has been one of the best of my life."

"So you decided to kiss me and then bring up the whole conflict of interest issue?"

"I kissed you because I have wanted to, since I first saw enter the building. Since you smiled at whatever it was that was making you smile."

"Really?" Gwen asked him, "and the conflict of interest?"

"As you are well aware, there is no conflict of interest issue, personal relationships are allowed at work." He said.

Gwen knew this, which was why she had been hurt.

"I wasn't prepared for how I felt after kissing you."

"What?" Gwen was confused.

"I told you that I've dreamt of kissing you since I first saw you," he said, "but when we kissed, okay, even before we kissed, I knew that I wanted more."

"More?"

"You know me, Guinevere," he said, Gwen, almost melted, he way he said her name was so sexy; "everybody knows that I'm too busy to have relationships. Everybody knows that the company comes first with me. Actually, that isn't true but since it kept away all annoying clingy females, I was okay with it. I was looking for something more and I thought I'd never find it until I saw you."

'What are you saying, Arthur?"

"When we kissed, all questions I'd ever had about finding love were answered and everything fell into place. This scared me so much I decided to nip it in the bud, so to speak. But I'm not scared anymore. Since I saw you in the office its like days have passed instead of hours and it was like I was lost without you, lost and hopeless. What I'm saying Guinevere is that I love you."

Arthur stopped talking; he'd said everything he'd wanted to say.

"Wow."

Gwen kept silent and took a sip of her tea. Arthur watched her; she obviously didn't feel the same way that he did. He was hurt but at least he'd told her the truth. He would wait for her finish her tea, it was the polite thing to do, pay and then leave her alone.

They drank their tea in silence and Arthur paid the bill. He was about to leave when he said, "I guess I'll be off then." He stood up.

"Do want to know what I thought the first time I saw you?" Gwen asked. Arthur sat down.

"I thought this is the man I am going to marry."

Arthur smiled; maybe there was hope for him yet.

"And then you opened your mouth and shouted at me."

They looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What are you saying, Guinevere?" he asked her.

"I think I love you too, Arthur Pendragon."

"You think," he began, and then at her look he added, "I can live with that for now."

0000


End file.
